


The Cats Cradle - Alternative Ending

by Elie



Series: The Cats Cradle [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-08 10:34:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19105360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elie/pseuds/Elie
Summary: this is the alternate ending to the fic Cats Cradle, which you really should read first (part 1 of this series) this is (spoiler alert!) the more happy one





	The Cats Cradle - Alternative Ending

**Author's Note:**

> like i said in the summary, please read the fic first as this is just an ending  
> i had to post this because i couldn't decide which ending i liked the most lmao

By some miracle, Dick is still breathing when the sound of tires screeching when forced to a stop fills the alleyway. There is a bright light, headlights, filling the small corner of Gotham they have occupied. It lights up everything around them. Jason and Selina get a front-row seat to how awful Dick looks.

For the second time tonight, Selina thinks she would be sure the boy was dead if she was not feeling his pulse under her fingers. He looks more like a corpse than a live human being. 

There’s the sound of car doors opening and slamming shut, and then footsteps running towards them. She stands up, leaving Jason to continue looking after his brother. She hopes it’s some of the good guys coming to save Dick.

“B, I think we need Superman,” Jason says, without looking up. He has already realized it's the Bat, too familiar with their ways. Selina was still having her doubts, even as she saw it was caped figures running towards them. It’s almost too good to be true. 

Batman, Bruce, pushes something on his wrist as he comes to a stop by them. The current Robin is by his side. His small face pales as Dick’s mangled body comes into view.

“Selina,” Bruce says as what she thinks is supposed to be a greeting. He then mirrors Jason and crouches down beside Dick. Robin follows suit, and Selina doesn’t miss how his little hand grabs Richards, much like she had done only seconds ago.

Suddenly, she feels like an intruder.

Richard is not her responsibility anymore. There's nothing more she can do, she has no more knowledge than what she has already told Jason. There is no need for her to stay.

They don't notice when she slips into the dark shadows. She's glad she doesn’t have to sit and watch as Nightwing dies tonight in front of his family.

-

Four weeks later, and Selina has heard nothing. She’s unsure if that’s good or bad. There hasn’t been anything in the underworlds rumor mill either. No one has seen or heard from Nightwing. She can’t say she’s surprised. There have only been wild guesses about the vigilante's sudden disappearance. Nothing real or from a believable source. 

The bat-sightings have been scarcer than normal too. She knows they've been doing their usual patrols though, minus Nightwing. She’s seen them. Every time she’s spotted them, she hasn’t been able to muster up the courage to confront them. 

There hasn’t been anything on Dick Grayson either, besides a small notice of him traveling abroad. She hasn’t seen anything on the rest of the family either, besides the usual gossip tales of romance and heartbreak. If only real life was that easy.

She’s standing up on a rooftop, their rooftop. It is still a couple of hours until the sun will start to make its way up.

It is an olive branch if there ever was one. She is in his territory.

She hears Bruce before she sees him, the ruffle of his cape, the sound of his boots as he walks over the rooftop. He isn’t trying to hide, he wants her to know he’s there, is he trying not to spook her? It’s funny, as she is the one who initiated contact.

She doesn’t turn to look at him as he walks towards her, and he comes up and stands by her side without a word.

They stay like that, looking over Gotham for a couple of minutes. The moon is shining how it did when the fog lifted that night.

“You left,” Bruce says, finally breaking the silence.

Selina somehow finds the courage to look at him. He has the cowl on, but even with his face half hidden, she can see that he looks tired. His uniform looks a little worse for wear like it hasn’t been on his mind, or anyone else’s, to patch up the small rifts gained from patrol.

“There was nothing more for me to do,” she answers because it is the truth. She could not bear to sit there and do nothing, and only look on as Bruce tried to keep his oldest son alive. As two brothers sat and watched their older brother die. 

Her stomach hurts with a pain that doesn’t come from anything she’s eaten. It fills all of her. She wants to ask, to know. The teen has been on her mind too much the last few weeks. She has to ask now, or she will never have the courage again.

“The boy?” she is suddenly all too aware of how quiet it is. How it is as if even Gotham is holding her breath, waiting for Batman to reply.

“It was scary for a while, but he looks to be recovering now,” he says. It feels like a weight she did not know was there is lifted off her shoulders. Gotham breaths again.

“And his leg?” she asks, her heart aching to see another daring flip from the smiling hero.

“Judge is still out on that one, a full recovery is still unsure,” Bruce explains. She doesn’t think Bruce has ever been so open with her about his kids. Especially not while they are still both in uniform. Her happiness over the teen surviving dims a little when she hears of his possible future. 

“Is he still an awful patient? I remember you telling me about it when he was young,” she asks, trying to keep the mood light. She can’t take it if Batman is to break in front of her. Not when it’s because of his son's future, a future she might have inflicted when she moved him into her lap.

She looks at the bat, and there is actually the ghost of a smile over his lips.

“Yep, still refusing to lay still in bed and whining when left alone for too long. It is almost like he's that little kid again,” Bruce admits. “The other kids are going insane, and frankly - so am I.”

Selina doesn’t answer, and in a surprising turn of events, Bruce continues talking.

“At the same time, I’m happy to see him up and complaining. It was.. scary, seeing him so still those few days where we.. when we thought..” Bruce’s voice trails off and Selina hears emotions she does not want to, can’t, deal with in it.

“I’m happy to hear he’s recovering, it looked.. very bad, in that alley. To be frank, I was sure that.. well, that he would die.” Selina has never been anything but truthful, and she’s not one to coddle. Not even bats she has a special eye to.

“Thank you, for being there, those moments. It would hurt even more if I knew he laid there alone all that time before we arrived,” Bruce says. Selina is still looking up at him, but he isn't looking at her. His eyes are focused on something else, far out over the Gotham skyline.

She doesn’t comment that Dick had laid there alone before she came around. She stops herself from spilling out a snide remark about how he had been left alone to fight a battle he had lost. For a millisecond, she wants to ask the bat where the hell he was while his son lay dying - but she knows it wouldn’t be fair. They have all chosen this life while knowing the risk. 

The silence falls over them again. Words were never their strongest point.

“Say hi to the kid from me,” she says, and turns around, “tell him he owes me a leather jacket!” she continues as she walks away. The conversation is done, the moment over. She stops when she comes to the stairs leading down the outside of the building. When she looks towards where she and the bat had been standing moments earlier, he is nowhere to be seen.

Selina walks down the stairs, her new boots not making a sound, and she too disappears into the night. Gotham welcomes her into her shadows, the dark not feeling as suffocating as before.

**Author's Note:**

> ALso @Siryygray explained the title like this; “cats cradle has been associated with innocence vs corruption and situations that become increasingly complicated” and i just found that very very perfect and fitting
> 
> i am very thankful for any kudos and comments!


End file.
